More changes likely coming for deer hunters in affected counties

Tissue from the chronic wasting disease-positive deer found in Issaquena County earlier this year has been tested again for the disease.

"We submitted another tissue sample," said Russ Walsh, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks' wildlife executive staff officer. "We ran ELISA and IHC tests to confirm it. Both were positive. It did confirm we had CWD."

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA, is the faster and cheaper test for CWD. However, it is not thought to be as reliable as IHC, or immunohistochemistry test.

"IHC is the gold standard," Walsh said.

The discovery of the state's first case of CWD caused a stir among hunters, and when the news broke online, the social media conspiracy theorists didn't disappoint. Because the land where the infected deer was found is for sale, some said the deer was planted to reduce the value of the land.

Others said there was no CWD in Mississippi and explained MDWFP had manufactured the story so it could change regulations. Walsh stopped short of saying the second round of tests of the Issaquena deer were a result of online chatter.

"I hate to say (it was) to quell conspiracy theories, but just to confirm," Walsh said.

In line with MDWFP's Chronic Wasting Disease Response Plan, disease testing efforts have been ramped up in the six counties that are within 25 miles of the site where the positive deer was found. Those include Claiborne, Hinds, Issaquena, Sharkey, Warren and Yazoo counties.

Because the deer was found near the Mississippi River, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has also conducted testing.

"They've been doing some target sampling as well," Walsh said. "All 188 have come back not detected."

Chronic wasting disease is always fatal for cervids and is spread through deer-to-deer contact. So, the Issaquena deer contracted CWD from another deer and others possibly were infected, too. But with 764 tested so far and only one positive, many are asking where did this deer come into contact with the disease?

"It could be very early in this disease," Walsh said. "Could it be the deer walked from another area? We simply don't know anything more than this deer was positive."

In addition to increased testing efforts, the CWD Response Plan called for a ban of supplemental feeding of all wildlife in the six affected counties. That ban includes mineral sites. Hog trapping with bait is still allowed, but the bait must be confined to the interior of traps and traps must be permitted by the department.

So far, those have been the only changes hunters and land managers in the six counties have seen, but more are on the way.

"We do have some recommendations we're working on," Walsh said. "They will be forthcoming in the next while — probably in the next month or so. We're definitely working on that."

One change that will likely come is hunters in the CWD management counties will be asked to provide tissue samples form harvested deer for testing.